Top Story with Tom Llamas - Monday, March 10, 2025

Episode Date: March 11, 2025

Tonight's Top Story has the latest breaking news, political headlines, news from overseas and the best NBC News reporting from across the country and around the world.

Tonight, why the Menendez brothers may not be getting out of prison anytime soon. The new L.A. District Attorney pushing back on the effort to free Eric and Lyle, who have spent decades behind bars for killing their parents. The DA joins Top Story in just a moment to talk about his decision and what could make him reconsider. And the family members blasting the move, we hear from one of their closest cousins live tonight. Also breaking tonight the doubt plunges 900 points as recession fears rise. The growing uncertainty amid a trade war, fueling the biggest one-day drop in months. And the leader in Canada, threatening to cut off electricity to the U.S. joins top story. Will he do it? The fiery collision after a container

ship hits a U.S. oil tanker in the North Sea, cruise forced to abandon ship as explosions rocked vessel, and now this, one of the ships was carrying deadly cyanide, the race to contain it. The tornado hitting this local news station while they were live on the air. Everyone forced to seek shelter in the newsroom, the twister tossing debris and leaving a neighborhood in shambles. Missing on spring break, the 20-year-old American student vanishing in the Dominican Republic, the new clues about her disappearance, and the witness being questioned by police. Video capturing a wild brawl breaking out at a high school basketball game, parents taking away in handcuffs, the moments leading up to that off-court foul.

And new video as Wendy Williams is escorted to the hospital after dropping a note out of her window, her latest plea for help. Plus, buying the jackpot? The investigation after a lot of winners scored big, spending $25 million on nearly all the possible combinations. Are Steve Kornacki breaking down the number? and how they won. Top story starts right now. And good evening. Tonight we start with the new turn in the Menendez Brothers case

as their path to freedom hits a significant roadblock. The Los Angeles District Attorney Nathan Hockman asking a court to withdraw a resentencing motion originally filed by his predecessor. Here's why. Take a look at this. Hockman's new filing outlining more than a dozen proven lies that those red X is there, he says the brothers have not admitted to. He says that until they take full responsibility, he won't reconsider their bid to be released. Of the brothers' three paths to freedom,

two are now less viable because of this. The only one left is that petition for clemency, which is in the hands of California Governor Gavin Newsom. Just over a week ago, Newsom ordered the parole board to conduct an assessment if Lyle and Eric would be a risk to the public. if they were released. In just a moment, we'll hear from the district attorney, Hawkman, and Anna Maria Berault. She's the cousin of Eric and Lyle Menendez. But we want to start

off our coverage with NBC News Correspondent, Liz Kreutz. Tonight, the Los Angeles District Attorney delivering yet another obstacle to the Menendez brothers and their fight for freedom after 30 years behind bars. They do not meet the standards for resentencing. They do not meet the standards for rehabilitation. They posed an unreasonable risk of danger to the community and the resentencing should not therefore be granted. DA Nathan Hockman withdrawing his predecessor's recommendation that Eric and Lyle be resentenced, but saying the court process should continue as planned and be left up to a judge. Our position is that they shouldn't get out of jail.

The brothers who are currently serving life without parole for the 1989 murders of their parents, Jose and Kitty, argue they acted in self-defense after years of abuse at the hands of their father. But in a scathing, 50-minute rebrand. and 87-page filing, the DA cast doubt on those claims, saying the brothers have repeatedly lied and changed their story and that they originally said they acted out of self-defense because they feared their parents were going to kill them. Tonight, outraged Menendez family members who support the brothers ripping into the DA, saying in his statement he has blinders on to the fact that Eric and Lyle were repeatedly abused, feared for their lives, and have atoned for their actions. The DA saying he could change his recommendation if the brothers take full responsibility. They've shown remarkable rehabilitation. The brother's attorney saying, despite the DA's position, they're hopeful the judge will be on their side.

Do you still believe that Eric and Lyle will get out of prison? Do I? Yes, absolutely. The law's going to be followed. And if the law is followed, they should be out. Liz joins us tonight from Los Angeles. Liz, walk our viewers through sort of what the legal timeline is now with this new move from the DA. Well, Tom, it's a little bit unclear. As of now, there is still that two-day hearing that is scheduled for the end of next week with the judge, but it's now unclear if that's going to move forward, in part, in large part, because of the district attorney's announcement today,

but also because of that risk assessment ordered by the governor that you mentioned earlier. That takes 90 days. It could be that the judge wants to see the findings of that report. That should be complete by the beginning of summer, Tom. Liz Kroitz leading us off tonight. Liz, we thank you for that. For more on this, I want to bring in the Los Angeles District Attorney who made this decision, Nathan Hockman. DA Hockman, thank you so much for joining Top Story.

I want to start with your decision, right? You asked the court to withdraw the motion to resentence the Menendez brothers. You said that you would reconsider a, quote, pathway if they accept responsibility. Can you explain more about your decision and more about what your office claims are, quote, lies and efforts to undermine the truth-seeking function of their juries? So the resentencing motion was actually on two different paths. The court had filed its own motion to go forward with resentencing, and we have said we're prepared to go forward with that motion. My predecessor filed a district attorney motion, and that motion did not consider whether or not Eric and Lyle Menendez have exhibited full insight into their crimes and completely accepted responsibility for the full breadth of their criminal actions. What we pointed out in an over 87-page filing is that when it came to self-defense,

The defense where they said in essence that they believed their parents were going to kill them the night of August 20th, 1989, when they murdered them with 12 shotgun blasts to the face, to the back of the head, and through the kneecaps to stage it like a mafia killing. We said that they have not ever accepted in over 30 years the fact that that self-defense was alive. They also suborn perjury and attempted to suborn perjury from various ones of their girlfriends and friends where they tried to paint Jose. is a violent rapist. They said the mother had tried to poison the family. They even tried to bolster the self-defense by saying to one of their friends that you tried to give us a gun the day before we killed our parents. To this date, there are 20 different lies that we've identified. They've actually accepted responsibility for the first four of them, because that's the six-month period where they went out screaming from their house and they said, someone

killed our parents. I'm going to get them. I'm going to torture them. Who would do this? That was Eric Menendez the night of the murders. And for the next six months, they lied and said that basically they weren't the ones who did it. It was the mafia who did it. Eventually, they admit to those lies, but they've not admitted to the self-defense lie and all the suborning of perjury and attempted suborning a perjury for all their friends. We said that we gave them a pathway. We said, here are the lies that you have never acknowledged in 30-plus years. If you can do it unequivocally and sincerely and basically fully accept responsibility for your actions, then those new insights should be considered by the court in deciding whether or not you constitute

an unreasonable risk of danger to society. And the district attorney's office will also reconsider its position when and if the Menendez brothers finally after 30 years come clean. From the evidence you've seen, do you believe the brothers killed their parents, Jose and Kitty, because they wanted to gain access to their multi-million dollar inheritance or because, as the brothers claim, to this day, they were being molested by their father? The brothers never claimed that they killed their parents

because of the sexual molestation. In fact, I read to the entire media quotes from the actual trial testimony of Eric and Lyle Menendez, where they said explicitly it was not the sexual abuse that led to them killing their parents is because they feared their parents we're going to kill them that night, self-defense.

And with respect to that argument, again, we have proven repeatedly through all the premeditation, the willfulness, the deliberate actions they took, like having a pre-planned alibi, like buying shotguns under fake IDs two days before, like going ahead and staging the entire killing like a mafia gangland killing, and then strategically and systematically disposing of the evidence right after the crime. that this was not self-defense. It has nothing to do with the sexual abuse. This was never self-defense.

But it was important, though, I want to, excuse me for interrupting you, but I do want to make this point because this was a major part of sort of the move to get them out, really kind of popping up over the last couple of years. You think the sexual assault, if it did or if it didn't happen, it doesn't matter to you because it's not important in them getting released. Is that what you're trying to say? What I'm trying to say is not only does it not matter to me. The Leslie Abramson, their attorney back in 1993, said that sexual abuse would never be a justification to kill the abusers.

It never was and never will be. Those are her words. Eric and Lyle Menendez also testified that it wasn't the sexual abuse that led them to murder and shock on their parents. It was their fear, supposedly, that their parents were going to kill them, and that's their father and their mother that night, that led them to kill them first. So, again, the self-defense is the key part of their defense. It always was. What we're saying is that we've not shown those insights into that issue. The Menendez family today released a statement.

I'm sure you're aware. They essentially said you're holding Eric and Lyle and the family hostage. What do you say to that? What I said is I'm doing my job. We went through tens of thousands of pages of trial transcripts, prison records, hundreds of hours of videotape testimony. I spoke to the Menendez family members for over three hours. I spoke to law enforcement, prosecutors, and the defense counsel.

Our job is to apply the facts to the law dealing with resentencing, and we're doing nothing more than what Governor Newsom did with Sir Hans Sir Head, the killer of Senator Robert F. Kennedy back in 1978. He looked at all the positive factors for Sir Hans Sir Head. He's 77 years old. He'd been in jail for 54 years. He was 24 years old when he committed the crime and had no criminal history. He did very successful rehabilitation in prison, yet he said because Sir Han, Sir Han never exhibited insights into the full breadth of his crimes that he constituted an unreasonable risk of danger to society. So too have we made the legal point and the factual point that if and until the Menendez brothers exhibit that full insight into the full range of their criminal conduct, and finally admit after 30 years that it wasn't self-defense, that they got their friends to lie. repeatedly on their behalf, if and when they do that, then in the future, the judge should

reconsider or consider their resentencing, and the DA's office will as well. You know, this case obviously has gotten a lot of tension, DA. What do you say to the critics, your critics who say you're doing this more to show the voters or the people of Southern California that you are tough on crime, you're not going to be a pushover versus whether Eric and Lyle deserve to be released from prison? I would say that the politics are basically irrelevant here. I've taken the legal position, militated by the facts themselves. I've laid it out in technical detail, over 87 pages, after spending literally months and hundreds

of hours going through the evidence. What I would encourage anyone to do is look at the filing, make their own determination, because ultimately the judge will make the determination to this. So it has nothing to do with tough on crime. In fact, I've laid out the pathway for the Menendez brothers to actually follow that if they unequivocally and sincerely, finally, after 30 years complained with the full range of their conduct, that the DA's office would reconsider its request to withdraw the resentencing motion, and the court should as well. DA Hockman, we thank you so much for joining Top Story.

We thank you for your time tonight. Thank you very much as well. And for a response from the Menendez family, I want to bring in Anna Maria Boral. She's the cousin of Eric and Lyle Menendez and a longtime advocate for the release from prison. She's also been a guest here on Top Story before. And, Emery, we thank you for joining us tonight. I know you just heard the DA there. You heard our conversation here.

What is your response to him? I guess the first thing that I want to say is that in his, and first thing I want to say is thank you for having me. Second thing I want to say is having watched his press conference earlier where he was asked, you know, he said that he wasn't going to, he didn't want Eric and Lyle because they were going to be a danger to society. The idea that the streets of Los Angeles are safer tonight because Eric and Lyle Menendez are behind bars is pure fiction. You know, second, he really dismisses a lot of the, they have apologized, they have shown remorse, they have taken full

accountability to the public, certainly to everyone in our family. That is also pure fiction. So I don't know that him putting out a list of, you know, essentially he wants to, he wants them to agree to that his truth, not their truth, not the truth, but his truth in order for him to support their resentencing. And that is ridiculous. Do you see the brothers, though, you know, they've been in prison for more than 30 years? Do you see them, though, looking at this offer, if you will, and essentially apologizing for whatever the DA wants them to apologize for, apologizing for those lies. that they allegedly told investigators, that they told the police in the lead-up to the trial and during the trial. Do you think Eric and Lyle will do that to get themselves out of prison? I can't imagine that they are going to sacrifice their integrity and their character now in order to provide some...

Even though they seem to be very close to possibly be getting released from prison? Well, I'd like to remind everybody that it is not up to the district attorney. It is up to a judge. And we have every reason to believe that this is a very fair judge who is going to look at their records post-conviction. And that's also a pretty interesting thing that I'd like to point out is that when we met with the original resentencing team from the past district attorney's administration, they were very clear with us that resentencing is about life post-conviction, is about the records

post-conviction, it is about what they have done with their lives since conviction. It is not a relitigation of the trial. It is not a relitigation of the events that led up to the trial. I don't know whether the district attorney doesn't understand that. I don't know if there's a miscommunication about resentencing and what the law provides for in the state of California. But that is a surprise to me. Do you have any idea how Eric and Lyle have taken the news

and the new DA's sort of his pathway, his offer, and his decision? I haven't had a chance to speak with them today. So I'll be interested to hear their opinion. You know, we've been talking about sort of the micro issues and the things that affect your, cousins and your family. I'd like to go macro for a second now. If you're sort of looking at this from a political perspective, right? The country is changing when it comes to politics, every single state. Even your governor. People are saying that he is changing a little bit.

Do you have faith in Governor Gavin Newsom that he will honor maybe his history? I know he hasn't given you his word. I know they're reviewing the case right now. But are you concerned if he is thinking about a possible run for the presidency? He does not want to have maybe on the slate out there. He was the governor who released Eric and Lau Menendez from prison after they had shot their mother and father with a shotgun. Sure, I am afraid of that. I'm always afraid when a new politician comes into play. We've been used by politicians for decades as a tool. I have great faith in this governor, though, and I think that it was a pretty courageous thing for him to go ahead and initiate the risk assessment, and I'm grateful that he did that. I know that the parole board

is not a political arm in California. So I have great faith in them as well as we conduct this risk assessment and that they get to learn all of the events of remorse that Lyle and Eric have exhibited. This crime happened in 1989. It's now 2025. Do you think you're going to see your cousins as free men this year? I really hope so.

I really hope so. The world will be a better place with them doing the work that they have started while they've been in prison. They are great advocates for survival. of sexual abuse and childhood trauma. They have a lot to offer this world, and I really hope that they get a chance. Anna Maria Barral, a close cousin of Eric and La Manendez.

We thank you for joining Top Story tonight. Thank you for having me. We're going to take a big turn now to our other major headline, fears of a recession, growing after another massive sell-off on Wall Street today. The Dow Jones dropping almost 900 points. Look at that.

The S&P suffering its biggest one-day drop since December, falling back to its lowest level since before the election, And the NASDAQ suffering its worst day since 2022, down 4% at close. For more of the possibility of a recession, what's happening with the markets, what you should do with your 401K. I want to bring an NBC News business and data correspondent, Brian Chung. So, Brian, the sell-off has been going on for days now, right? People are starting to see a trend. In this case, the trend is not your friend.

What should people think about the market and their 401Ks? Yeah, well, first off, don't look. For 401K is the idea is that it's a nest egg for retirement anyway. Stay long in that particular type of money that you have. scrolled away anyway. Now, when it comes to the overall story with what's happening with the stock market, these are jitters that have really escalated since President Trump was escalating his trade war against our neighbors to the north and south, as well as China. We've seen the S&P 500 fall 7% since his first full day in office, and all that, again, has underscored just the

uncertainty that you have in Wall Street, but also on Main Street. This is one of those rare situations, Tom, where both Wall Street and Main Street are kind of on the same page being concerned about this tariff policy. Does it matter at this point what the president says about tariffs because he's changing his mind so often as the market just lost faith. And are they predicting that maybe a recession is coming? I mean, it matters. I think because of the semantics that we heard from the White House last week. I mean, on Tuesday, we thought it was a 25% wholesale tariff on everything coming in from Mexico and Canada in addition to that additional 10% on China. And then two days later,

that picture was very different. There was all of a sudden a carve-out for the automakers and there was a carve-out for anything that was compliant with the U.S.MCA trade deal that the Trump administration, by the way, negotiated during his first. first term. So none of that seemed to calm the markets here, but I do think that people are watching the details of this. There are individual companies that did benefit from some of those announcements like the U.S. automakers. So there are some very big titans of this financial industry whose both words and actions are signaling. Maybe there is something to come that's not going to be great for the U.S. economy. Paul Singer, Elliott Management, big hedge fund. He's saying,

essentially, it's been almost 20 years. You take the pandemic out. It's been almost 20 years since the last big crash, right, going back to the financial crisis. Warren Buffett is hoarding cash. He's got more than $300 billion, I think, in cash alone, maybe less than that. But it's been a while since we've had a crash, and the market is already overvalued because all the money that was pumped into the economy during the pandemic. So what do you think is going to happen? I mean, should people be concerned?

Yeah, well, I think when it comes to holding cash, especially right now in this interest rate environment where you can actually get 4, 4.5% just for having your money in a high-yield savings account or a certificate of deposit, it's really not a bad. idea if you're following the likes of Paul Singer, maybe Warren Buffett, in putting some cash away and just holding in a savings account, because you're getting returns that are, you know, 4 or 5% for a year isn't that bad when you consider that we just lost the 5% from the highs of 2025 off the Dow Jones Industrial average. But I think the idea here is that we still need to zoom out and just acknowledge, A, we are not in a recession right now. We just got a jobs report

last week that shows the unemployment rate of 4.1%. That is still near multi-decade lows. And then secondly, the stock market, yes, there's a correction on the NASDAQ composite, those tech-heavy stocks have taken a hit. That's about 10%. When you talk about 2008 and even in the COVID recession, those numbers on the stock market losses were way more than that. So I think zooming out and just understanding the scale of this is also important. Watch for the stock market, but definitely don't freak out for the action that we saw this week. Brian Chung for us tonight. Brian, we thank you for that. Joining us now on Top Story. In our spotlight interview is Doug Ford, the premier of Ontario, who has staunchly opposed Trump's tariffs and promised to cut off electricity flowing from Canada

if they are not permanently rescinded. Today, Ford announcing 25% tariffs on Canadian electricity flowing to New York, Minnesota, and Michigan, raising energy costs for the average home in affected areas by nearly $70 a month, and you know energy prices are already sky high. Premier Ford joins us now.

We thank you so much for being here on Top Story. Premier Ford, I'm going to ask you a question sort of out of the blue. Why do you think President Trump picked a fight with Canada? You know, something, Tom, first of all, I start off with every interview telling the Americans, Canadians love Americans, we love the U.S., I live there 20 years, and we're part of the family.

And as for why President Trump is doing this, your guess is as good as mine. You know, he ran on a mandate, Tom, to lower inflation, create jobs, look at growth. It's done the total opposite. You know, the inflation's going up. Assembly lines will shut down if he moves forward with us in the auto sector. Manufacturing will close down, and they'll have less, the Americans will have less money in their pockets. You can't go after your largest customer, your closest friend, your closest ally in the world, and not expect a reaction. I apologize to the American people because we all know in Canada, it's not the American people.

It's one person, and that's President Trump, and he'll put us in a recession if he keeps going this way. Well, my questions are leading that way. Are you afraid that these new tariffs you're going to impose on Canadian electricity coming out of your country into ours, are going to hurt your people as well? Well, not on the electricity. I want to send more electricity down to our great friends and neighbors. I want to send more critical minerals south of the border. As China's ramping up every single day, you don't attack your friends, you attack your foes. And China's a threat, not Canada. I want to create an Amcan fortress, an American-Can fortress. We have all the critical minerals in the world, largest deposits in the world, right across the border. And we want to send you more energy as well.

We want to send you more aluminum and steel and lumber and high-grade nickel that comes out of Ontario. That's true. That's what we want to do. Premier Ford, you are being incredibly hospitable, and I appreciate that. But you're also being incredibly tough when it comes to your electricity and what's going to happen. You've threatened to cut off electricity entirely if the tariff stands. When do you plan to do that? Well, hopefully we'll never have to do it, but it's a tool in our toolkit, and I won't hesitate

to use it. As President Trump is attacking Canadian families and jobs and businesses, taking food off their table, which there's no reason to. I always say, Tom, you know, especially the auto sector, it's been around since the 1960s. You can't unscramble that egg overnight. You have to make a larger omelet. And both countries need to make a lot of larger omelette until both countries can be prosperous. The president has been afraid to put dates on the calendar when it comes to tariffs.

Are you going to put a date on the calendar when it comes to Canadian electricity? No, we're going to negotiate through strength. We'll see what the president does. He seems to change his mind every single day. Even when I talk to Republicans, governors and senators and congresswomen and men, all of them are telling me they aren't in favor of it behind closed doors. They need to get out and speak out because it's going to hurt their communities. It's going to not only hurt red states, it'll hurt blue states.

It'll hurt every state in the U.S. If Ontario was a stand-alone country, we'd be the third largest trading party. in the world. Canada is the number one customer, but we're number three to, you know, in the entire world. We're number one customer to 17 states, number two to 11 others. Yeah. Premier, I do want to ask you the big news here in the United States today, as I'm sure you know, is the stock market just on a downward spiral, fears of a recession? Do you think Canada is going to hit a recession before the U.S.? Well, you know, we have a saying in Canada, U.S. sneezes, Canada catches a cold.

And I'm a strong believer in the market when the market speaks. And we all know that it's a measuring stick for the president. He has to pay attention to the market. He has to pay attention to the endless Fortune 500 CEOs that are telling them this is the wrong thing to do. Our trade is so integrated on not just auto, but on pretty well, every. And he needs to, you know, pay attention to that because it will be a self-complicted recession by President Trump. Premier, President Trump has said part of the issue is fentanyl.

The fentanyl coming in from the border, the northern border, and the southern border that's killing Americans. I want to put up a stat on the screen for our viewers here. In the last fiscal year, more than 21,000 pounds of fentanyl were seized at the southern border, just 43 at the northern border. So this clearly isn't the issue, or at least it's not comparable to what's happening on the southern border. Do you buy the fentanyl argument? You know, I don't buy that argument at all. It's a smoke stream. But what I do buy, yes, do we have to tighten up the border?

We listen. We put 10,000 personnel on the border. And I just ended up getting a report from our state government, provincial government, if I can say, that we just apprehended 100. hundreds of kilos of cocaine coming from the southern border, endless amounts of illegal guns, illegals, and fentanyl, and opioids. I can't stand drugs, and I just want to do everything we can.

I've had the DEA up to my office. We've talked to the U.S. Border Patrol, Canadian Border Patrol, federal and state police on both sides of the border. It's a shared border. So, yes, do we have to stop the flow of drugs? 100%. Is the problem, Canada? No, it's not Canada.

You look at the precursors. They're coming from China. And coming in through Mexico, up through the United States, and some gets into Canada. It's unacceptable. So we need to work together. Ontario Premier, Doug Ford, we thank you for your time tonight. We do want to turn out of the desperate search for a missing U.S. college student who disappeared during a spring break trip in the Dominican Republic.

Authorities combing the beach where the 21-year-old was last seen as news details are emerging about a witness. Jesse Kirsch is on the ground in Punta Kana tonight for us. By air, water, and land tonight authorities are scrambling to find Suddickshaksh Kunaki, a 20-year-old U.S. college student who vanished from this Dominican Republic beach more than four days ago. We talked to her on Wednesday night. That is March 5th night. Today, her father speaking to local media in Punta Kana, distraught yet grateful for what authorities are doing. They are really helping us to find our daughter. So far, they have helped us to find in the water.

But it's been three days they couldn't find her in the water. The University of Pittsburgh Jr. was spending spring break here at a Rio resort in Punta Conna when she went missing early Thursday morning. Police say surveillance video showed Kunaki and her friends going to the beach area. Eventually, Kunaki's friends came back to the hotel. But around 4.15 a.m., police believe Kunaki disappeared. Investigators revealing they've interviewed a young man who was also at the beach around that time. But officials say it's not clear if foul play was involved.

In a statement, Rio Hotel says it's deeply concerned about the disappearance of one of our guests and is working closely with the local authorities, including the police and the Navy, to conduct a thorough search. She went to the beach with several people, okay, and she did not come back, and that's a problem. This tonight from Punta Kana, so Jesse, what more have you learned on the ground about what was found on the beach? Tom, local media is reporting that Kunaki's clothing was found at the beach where there was no visible sign of violence spotted. Meanwhile, back in Virginia, that sheriff from where she is. from that you just saw there is saying that as of today, her friends were still being held in the Dominican Republic for further interviews. And again, Tom, we are outside of the complex

of resorts where this is all unfolding. And right now, what I can tell you is it seems like business as usual out here. We've had multiple buses coming by with people that appear to be coming and going for various tourist-type activities, including at least one bus, that had loud music playing, effectively like a party, a reminder of what goes on here for so many people. Tom. Yeah, this disappearance happening in the middle of spring break there. Okay, Jesse Kirsch, we thank you. We're back in a moment with the tornado that tore through Orlando and the weatherman broadcasting live as the twister hit his station head on. You're going to hear about it.

Plus, the highway nightmare. What happened after a piece of wood you see it here slammed into this car's windshield? Look at that. And the wild scene at a high school basketball game, parents getting to an all-out brawl in the stance. It's spread to the players on the court, some taken away in handcuffs. how this whole thing started when Top Story returns. We're back now with that tornado touching down near Orlando. Florida residents, they're experiencing winds of up to 120 miles an hour.

And as the twister tore up homes and left a trail of debris, it also hit a local news station. Here's NBC meteorologist Bill Cairns with the details. I am real. I am ill. A destructive EF2 tornado ripping through central Florida. This is a confirmed tornado. Orlando's Fox affiliate, W.OFL, live on air as the tornado hit the station. Everybody get in.

Everybody get in the studio. Come on in, guys. This is a very serious situation. A W.OFL anchor recording as staff hides under the anchor desk to avoid the tornado. In the Longwood neighborhood, aerial footage from NBC's affiliate, WESH, showing the Twister's dangerous path. Entire homes destroyed, roofs ripped clear off, the area littered with debris. The noise, it was wild when they say it sounds like a freight train. That's what I heard.

I've lived through many hurricanes, as you can imagine. I've never seen anything like that. Winds reaching up to 120 miles per hour, sending chairs and pool floats flying in this backyard. And flipping this tractor trailer on its side with a driver and dog inside. Both now safe. It was really strong winds, and I'm here 25 years through several hurricanes. This was a wind that sounded different. So far, no word on any serious injuries.

These are the type of tornadoes that have us most concerned, and we want to make sure people heed those warnings whenever they receive them so that they can get to the right place at the right time. Now residents and emergency crews surveying the damage left behind from this early morning storm. All right, Bill Cairns joins us now live in studio. Bill, you're going to walk us through exactly what happening. You actually worked at that station? Yes, I mean, this is where the tornado hit in the Fox station.

Amy, my old co-anchor was one of the people you saw hiding under the desk there. So the station was located about a half mile from where the tornado first came down. This storm was 9.30 in the morning, no tornado watch, pretty much unexpected that it was going to happen. The warning went out three minutes beforehand, and the one house that was completely destroyed with all everything fell on it. There was a couple that went to an interior room. when they got their warning, and they lived unscathed. When you see their house, you're like, how did that happen? So what do we have coming up?

So we go through the next couple of days pretty quiet. But then, you know, this is getting towards spring season. We're going to start getting severe weather outbreaks, and it looks like we're going to have one. So we're going to start this one on Friday. And we're going to target areas from St. Louis to Louisiana, definitely including the Little Rock and Memphis area. Then this storm's going to roll to the east coast.

By the time we get to Saturday, severe weather is going to roll through Alabama, Mississippi, portions of Tennessee. Undetermined yet, Tom, that this will be like a classic tornado outbreak, but I'd be surprised if we don't at least have isolated tornadoes and a lot of wind damage end this week. All right, we'll keep our eye on it. Bill, we thank you for that. Now to the high school basketball game that turned into a basket brawl, parents slugging it out in the stands and on the court

until two of them were let away in handcuffs. This is just the latest in a string of violence at youth sporting events. NBC's George Solis with the videos tonight. And now you've got an all-out fight. You got an all-out fight. You got an all-out fight in the stands right now. And it only gets worse from here. This is getting ugly and not what you want to see for a high school basketball game.

But that's exactly where this brawl took place in the final minutes of a Pennsylvania high school basketball playoff game between Unionville and Meadville. Meadville police say the escalation likely stemming from a foul that caused at least one father to grow unruly. Yeah, this is not what you want to see. Watch again as the fists begin to fly. This child being carried away from the melee as things quickly deteriorate. And now you got players getting into it. Uh-oh. And now, uh-oh.

This is getting really bad. The chaos ending with two men being escorted in handcuffs and the game coming to an abrupt end with 312 left to go on the clock. No charges have been filed. I mean, there's no excuse for this. Today, the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association announcing the game will be recorded as a forfeiture for each team. Adding both schools have been removed and suspended from this year's charge. tournament. Neither school has commented on the suspension. In a statement released the day after the game, the district superintendent for Meadville writing in part, the district is disappointed

by this unfortunate outcome. We remind all fans that respectful and sportsman-like behavior is expected at all times. It's not the only high school sporting events sparking recent controversy. A four-time New Jersey high school wrestling champion, now facing assault charges following this fight in the stands that unfolded last month. Anthony Knox, denying hitting anyone, claiming he went into the stance to help his father. According to court documents, his lawyer says he plans to plead not guilty. I saw an angry mob surround my father, and, you know, I made a decision to, you know, assist in his aid. And in February, top story covering these tense moments of a father walking onto the ice of a youth hockey game and shoving teen referees to the

ground. That father now charged with assault. He has not yet entered a plea and is due court next month. I can't say that I've ever seen anything like this. Tonight, a loss for decorum and sportsmanship once again in the spotlight. Meadville's police chief tells me they are going through hours of video to find out who may have been involved in the fight and charges here could range from disorderly conduct to simple assault, which could mean jail time for some. Tom? All right, George Solis, we thank you for that when we return Wendy Williams' new plea for help. The former talk show host taken away in an ambulance after dropping a note from her window.

We'll tell you what she wrote. That's next. We're back now with the growing outrage after the arrest of a pro-Palestinian activist by immigration officers. The former Columbia University student and green card holder was involved in demonstrations on campus last year.

But tonight, a federal judge temporarily blocking any effort to remove him from the U.S. Emily Aketa has all the details. ICE off our campus now! Tonight, anger spilling on to New York City sidewalks after federal immigration agents arrested Mahmoud Khalil, who his lawyer says is a legal permanent resident with a green card. Khalil recently finished a master's at Columbia and helped lead pro-Palestinian protests on campus. His lawyer adding, he was detained on Saturday in front of his wife, a U.S. citizen who is eight months pregnant.

The Department of Homeland Security says Khalil led activities aligned to Hamas, a designated 10. terrorist organization. But tonight, a federal judge stepping in, temporarily blocking any effort to remove Khalil from the U.S. Colombia became a flashpoint for protests against Israel last spring. We interviewed Khalil then. We want a divestment from the Israeli occupation. In the wake of the nationwide protests, President Trump has vowed to crack down on anti-Semitism on college campuses. Today he called Khalil's detainment the first arrest of many to come. Any resident alien who commits a crime is eligible for deportation.

DHS would not comment on what, if any, charges Khalil is facing. The agency's website says he's currently detained in Louisiana. People are being disappeared under our government's watch with no recourse, no charges, and it's a massive escalation that everybody should be concerned about. According to the Associated Press, Kalil was under investigation by a new committee at Columbia that addresses cases of alleged discrimination. Kaleel telling the AP the allegations against him are mostly social media posts that I had nothing to do with.

Emily, Keta, joins us tonight from outside the courthouse there in lower Manhattan. Emily, I want to get right to this breaking news. Do we know about the judge's decision to block Kaleel's removal? Well, Tom, just steps from me. A judge decided that Kaleel needs to remain in the U.S. to preserve the court's jurisdiction in the manner. There is a court hearing scheduled at federal court for Wednesday. In the meantime, Columbia University releasing a new statement tonight, underscoring that it is deeply committed to the freedom of speech.

So stopping short of directly reacting to Khalil's arrest. Tom? Emily, Akkad up for us. Emily, we thank you for that. Now to Top Stories News Feed, we begin with a deadly medical helicopter crash in Mississippi. Authorities say the chopper crashed in a heavily wooded area near Jackson. The FAA confirming there were three people on board, and they were all. all killed in the accident. So far, it's unclear where the chopper was headed,

but the FAA and NTSB are investigating. Wendy Williams reportedly hospitalized after a wellness check at her assisted living facility in New York. New video showing NYPD officers leading Williams into an ambulance in Manhattan. The New York Post reporting that police arrived after the former TV host

dropped a note from the facility's fifth-story window that read, quote, help. Williams has been under a guardianship since she was diagnosed with dementia and ephasia. NBC News has reached out to reps for Williams but have not heard back. And a terrifying moment caught on camera on a New York City Bridge video from a driver's dash cam. Look at that, wow, showing a woodboard flying out of the back of a pickup truck crashing into the windshield of a car going the opposite way on New York's Varianzano Bridge. Miraculously, no one in that car was heard.

Elon Musk says that X, formerly Twitter, was the target of a, quote, massive cyber attack. More than 40,000 users, you may have been one, reporting issues accessing the site in three separate outages today. Ex-owner Elon Musk posting that it was targeted by a massive cyber attack, either by a large coordinated group or a country, but he did not provide any evidence for those claims. And Super Bowl champs, the Philadelphia Eagles have accepted an invitation to the White House. In a statement, the team confirming the news saying a date and time is still being worked out. It comes after rumors the team turned down and invited, you may remember, in 2018, the Eagles, did not visit the White House after their last Super Bowl win. The Trump administration rescinded the invitation after what it called a political stunt by the team.

Okay, coming up, the tanker and cargo ship colliding at sea, the fiery explosion caught on camera as toxic jet fuel spills into the waters off the coast of the U.K. What were learning about what was on board. We are back now with a dangerous collision at sea, a U.S. oil tanker hit by a cargo ship. carrying dozens of containers of potentially deadly sodium cyanide. The tanker leaking jet fuel intended for the U.S. Navy igniting an enormous blaze off the coast of England. One crew member still missing tonight.

NBC's Danielle Hammamgin has the story. A disastrous collision off the coast of England, sending smoke billowing into the sky as jet fuel poured into the North Sea. So long has collided with tanker Stena Immaculate in the outer high. Anchorage, both vessels are abandoning. The U.S. flagged Stena Immaculate Oil Tanker was anchored 15 miles offshore when a cargo ship punctured its hull. Releasing highly flammable jet fuel that a U.S. defense official tells NBC News was being carried for the U.S. Navy.

The cargo ship, the Solong, had just left Scotland for the Netherlands. Among its cargo, according to Lloyd's list, 15 can't. containers of sodium cyanide, a dangerous compound used in mining and manufacturing. Exposure to it can be fatal. It's not clear if any of it ended up in the water. The Stena crew forced to abandon that hulking tanker, about the length of a city block. At least 36 people from both ships were brought to shore, including all Stena crew members, according to the company managing that Stena ship, Crawley. Ernst Rus, owner of the Solong, saying one of their crew members, is still missing.

Collisions like this are rare, so how in this day and age could this happen? This morning it's been very foggy, so I would imagine that at that time when the accident took place, that there would have been fog. But even with the fog, navigation technology is designed to avoid situations like this. Modern ships have anti-collision systems, they have radar and so on. Ship location data from marine traffic shows the Solong moving ahead as the Stena Immaculate remains anchored. The Solong should have avoided it and it would be down to incompetence on behalf of Solong.

There is no reason why in the 21st century two ships should collide. With the crew accounted for, experts hope the pollution can be contained. Downing Street saying the cause of the collision is still becoming clear and an extremely concerning situation. situation. Danielle Hamamjan, NBC News. All right, time now for Top Stories Global Watch and a check of what else is happening around the world. We start with an update on those clashes between Syrian security forces and supporters of ousted President Bashar al-Assad. New video showing a gun battle breaking out

in a residential neighborhood in Homs. The fighting also moving to the capital city of Damascus and the city of Aleppo. The first clash is there since the fall of the Assad regime. More than 1,300 have been killed, including at least 973 civilians. We also have an update on the migrants deported from the U.S. who were trapped inside of Panama. Dozens of migrants, mostly from Asian countries, were released from a detention camp in the Panamanian jungle and given 30 days to leave the country. Some deportees will be able to extend their stay by 60 days, if needed, with many fearing, returning to their home countries.

The release follows weeks of lawsuits and advocacy from human rights groups after. images surfaced of the migrants calling for help from hotel windows. And there is some hope tonight for Pope Francis, the Vatican announcing. The pontiff is no longer an imminent danger from his respiratory infection. Doctors lifting their guarded prognosis for the Pope saying he is responding well to medical treatments and has remained in stable condition. The 88-year-old will remain in the hospital for now, but the Vatican says he was able to participate in some activities, including a private prayer service.

Okay, when we come back, can you buy the lottery? A Texas man or company spending an estimated $25 million to purchase nearly all of the possible winning combinations and they won big more than doubling the investment. Steve Kornacki takes a look at how this could be pulled off. That's next. Finally tonight is the lottery about more than just luck. The curious case in Texas now raising questions about whether players can game the system

and win themselves millions. It involves a player known only as Rook TX or Rook, Texas, who won the Lotto Texas jackpot for about $95 million. We're not sure if this is a person or a company or exactly what it is. They won it by essentially purchasing all the tickets with nearly all the possible winning combinations. The lump sum payout worth nearly $58 million, more than double the estimated $25 million they spent to pull it off.

But their methods are now raising legal questions with both the Texas governor and the Attorney General ordering investigations. Our big question tonight, how does the math actually work? Is it all legal, and is there a possibility that the people playing the system could get played themselves? Joining us now over here at the big board is none other than NBC News national correspondent and our good friend Steve Kornacki. Steve, so great to have you here. So again, these people essentially bought all the tickets.

Explain how the math works. Yeah, they have a lot of money and they spotted a heck of an opportunity. So the jackpot for this lottery was 95. million. And here's the catch. There are only, I say this, only 25.8 million possible combinations. A dollar a ticket, they figured out you could buy every possible combination and be under that jackpot. And here's how the money basically worked for them. So the jackpot's 95 million. Now remember, generally that would be paid out over 30 years. They chose on their ticket to take the one-time lump sum payment. So that comes down to just under 60 million. There is a federal tax,

knocked it down to about 44 million, but, you know, the initial investment was $25.8 million. That's a profit of $18 million in change. Not too bad. Pretty easy money. I guess the question is now, how much work did they put into this? So how do you buy $25.8 million worth of tickets? Yeah, I mean, in Texas, you do have to buy them at terminals in stores, you know, in lottery centers, sort of across the state. And you're doing all that work, however exactly they did it, and you are exposed in one way. I'll show you that because they bought up all the combinations they hit it obviously, but what if somebody else did? Right. What if there's two

winners in the lottery? Well, so here you go. The jackpot would be down to 47.5 million. Here's your lump sum payment, comes down further. Here's taxes, comes down further. And all of a sudden, you've spent 25.8 million for a post-tax pay out of 22. You've lost four million bucks. And if there were ever three winners, four winners, this would just, those losses would mount. Do we know if they did anything illegal? I mean, essentially, did they game the system? Were they smarter than Texas officials? They might have been richer. We'll see how Texas officials sort this all out.

But, you know, if you buy every ticket, what are you doing on the face that's illegal unless there's something involved in getting those tickets physically? Right. We don't know about. I suppose that's what the investigation would reveal. So, you know, our top story viewers, they're so savvy. So if we have our viewers at home and they're like, hey, let's pull our money together. Let's try to do this for the Powerball.

Not so fast, right? Yeah, we got a Powerball drawing tonight. And here's what would happen if you tried that. So it's $335 million. jackpot tonight. Your cash payout, that one-time payment would be 157. There's almost 300 million combinations, so already that's a lot more you're spending than the cash value you'd get. And it's two bucks a ticket. So multiply this by two. You're spending almost 600 million bucks for that kind of money. Not a good investment at all. All right, maybe we'll go down to Texas, so we'll

pull our money. We'll see if we can do something there. Steve, so great to see you. Thanks for being here tonight. We thank you for watching Top Story. I'm Tom Yammis, New York. Stay right there. news on the way.